Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Yellow House Books. What are those? So for those who are unaware, there is a system in Thailand called the Tabian Baan. What it means literally is House Registration or House Registration Books. These books are basically what I term as sort of a living census if you will or ongoing census in Thailand. Every Thai's root sort of ID document is linked to their Tabian Baan; it is the root ID document in many ways. You have a birth certificate, then you have your house registration book and from that you get your Thai ID card and things of this nature. Thais have a Blue Book. Pursuant to the Civil Registration Act of 1991, foreign nationals can get what is called a Yellow House book which allows a foreigner to be in the system, but they have a different kind of House Book; they have a Yellow House book as it denotes a non-immigrant. As I have discussed in other videos, this can then be utilized as a basis if you will or a touchstone, to get a Pink ID Card which can have some benefits as well, as opposed to a Thai national ID card which is blue. Long story short though, yes, it is possible for a foreigner to have a house book. 

Now it looks like based on anecdotal evidence - which I will get into here in a moment - it looks like this is now being required by certain Banks to not just open but apparently maintain a Bank Account here in Thailand. Look let's be clear and I want to preface this by saying there is a lot of info floating around in the ether right now about Banking, and it is not being helped by the fact that different banks are doing different things. In my opinion, this is all an upshot of frankly undue foreign influence on the banking sector here in Thailand that is having an impact on the foreign community either directly or indirectly. 

That said, I thought of making this video initially after reading a recent comment on our channel, quote: "I just went to the Bangkok Bank in Udorn Thani. Cannot reopen until I show a Yellow Book; it's a new requirement." So interesting there. You can't open a Bank Account without a Yellow Book, okay. Again this is anecdotal and for the minute I would ask people to maybe, for lack of a better term, be calm, maybe all is well, like that Kevin Bacon scene in the movie Animal House - “be calm, all is well." But yeah, it's kind of getting creepy. That said, quoting further, and this is from another comment on our channel: "I have been in Thailand on a Retirement Visa and just been upgraded to a Marriage Visa." Well I wouldn't call it an upgrade, it's sort of a lateral move if you will. As I have discussed in other videos, there are upsides and downsides to Marriage Visas. One of the, my opinion, well I guess you could call it a downside, there is heightened scrutiny we have seen over the years involving Marriage Visas as it oftentimes involves spot checks of housing and whether or not it's not a sham marriage. That said, quoting further: "I get my 1-year stamp in one month. My bank has frozen my account, and they say I need a Yellow Book. My wife has a blue book for the house I bought her. I think this is a money grab and I don't trust the Thai Government. How do I get my account unlocked if I can't get a Yellow Book?" Yeah again, I wouldn't necessarily put this necessarily exactly on the shoulders of the Thai Government, although you have got a wonder. They did bring in this sort of "exploration" - we're not signed on to it to the best of my knowledge - this “exploration” of the OECD, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. Meanwhile, unfortunately this administration here, as noted by the recent envoy’s visit to the purple room with our currently suspended Prime Minister, from the World Economic Forum, I think some of the policies coming from this Government are frankly the product of possible undue influence from the outside by organizations that don't really care much for liberty, Thai or otherwise. Nor do they really care about people's personal privacy and banking privacy etc. They seem to just want us all to "own nothing and be happy" seems to be the constant mantra we hear. That said, I thought this comment was also important to note, that not only are they saying, "hey you need a Yellow Book to open a bank account in certain banks, now they are saying you need one to maintain your account." 

So exactly what the permutations of all this are, remain to be seen. We will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.